There are a wide variety of products designed to protect firearms from wear and tear as they are used in the field. Most commonly they take the form of protective gloves, that is, specially cut and assembled fabric pieces designed to closely fit over a firearm.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,433,500 to R. Kunevicius discloses protective gloves for rifles and shotguns. Generally speaking, the gloves are fabricated from symmetrical patterns of plasticized polyvinyl chloride fabric connected by narrow elastic portions. The patterns accommodate various projections from the gun, such as the release and trigger, and are assembled in such a way that the fabric forms the side of the gloves with the elastic portions running along the top and bottom of the gun. One version of the glove is designed to slip over the barrel of the gun and extend from the forend all the way to the stock. Other versions have a separate sleeve, fabricated in a similar fashion, that fits only over the forend of the gun. A sleeve adapted to be slipped over the barrel of a gun also is disclosed but few details are provided as to its construction. U.S. Reissued Pat. No. Re. 32,752 to R. Kiang also discloses protective gloves for long barreled firearms. The gloves are fabricated from an elastic sheet that comprises an outer fiber layer, and inner fiber layer, and an intermediate rubber layer. The rubber layer provides a barrier to water, and the seams therein are secured with an adhesive to provide a waterproof seam. One glove disclosed therein is adapted to slip and fit over the forend of the firearm.
Such gloves generally provide adequate protection against scratches, nicks, abrasions and other damage to the finish of a firearm as it is fired and carried in the field. Unlike the typically shiny wooden parts over which they may be installed, those gloves are not light reflective and can help to disguise movement of the firearm. Being waterproof, the gloves of Kiang '752 also help protect a firearm against water damage. Finally, because they are fabricated in whole or in part by elastic materials, they can accommodate a wider variety of guns having differing sizes and configurations.
Such gloves, however, do little to assist a hunter in increasing his opportunities for, and accuracy of shots at game. That is, the materials from which such gloves are made are relatively thin and flexible, as they must be for the glove to closely fit a firearm. While certainly better than nothing at all, thin, flexible material provides minimal muffling of noise if the firearm engages a hard surface. Likewise, such thin, lightweight gloves do little to support and enhance the stability of a firearm as it is being aimed. Thus, various supports for firearms have been developed in an effort to minimize noise that might scare off game and to provide greater stability and support for the firearm as it is aimed and fired.
For example, bags filled with sand, foam balls, polypropylene pellets, cat litter, and the like are commonly used for such purposes. A shooting bag, for example, may be draped over the edge of a hunting blind to support and stabilize a firearm and to muffle any sound as the firearm is laid on the bag. U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,185 to F. Walker III represents a rather sophisticated development of the sand bag concept. Of course, there also are any number of cushioned and uncushioned monopods, bipods, and tripods that can provide adequate support for a firearm as it is aimed. It should be noted, however, that no matter how quietly a firearm may be placed on such supports, not only is carrying them around and setting them up a nuisance, but it can be noisy as well. Thus, such supports are more popularly used in the context of target shooting and less so for hunting.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,986,221 to F. Mullis represents another approach more suitable for hunting. It discloses a sleeve that provides a cushion around the gun forend. One embodiment is assembled from a relatively thick, rectangular resilient body. The resilient body may be made from polyurethane foam, foam rubber, or non-foamed rubber that is capable of absorbing the impact of a gun forend and deadening any sound. It also may be provided with an outer fabric layer. The ends of the resilient body are brought together to form a cylinder and are joined by a strip of elastic material. In another, similar embodiment the ends of the foam body overlap and are secured by hook and loop fasteners, such as Velcro® fasteners.
Mullis '221 also discloses another embodiment in which the body is formed in the shape of a tube eliminating the need for any elastic, hook and loop, or other connections. The material from which the body is composed is not identified specifically, but is described as expandable yet resilient. An outer fabric layer may be provided which necessarily must be expandable to stretch with the tubular body, but to ease stretching the fabric may be omitted.
The cushioned sleeves disclosed in Mullis '221 have certain advantages. Since they are installed on a firearm, there is no need to carry or set up a separate support device. The foam used in those sleeves preferably ranges up to one to two inches thick. Thus, at least in theory, they should be able to muffle any sound that otherwise might occur as a rifle is braced against a hard support. The thick layers of foam also should be able to stabilize a gun to the extent where shooting accuracy is improved.
Despite those advantages, none of the Mullis '221 sleeves appear to have enjoyed any degree of acceptance in the market. The Mullis '221 patent was allowed to expire four years after it issuance for failure to pay the first required maintenance fee. What Mullis and other workers in the art failed to appreciate, however, is that the very features from which its advantages are derived give rise to significant disadvantages as well.
For example, the resilient body extends completely or all but completely around the forend of a firearm. While the relative thickness of the foam can provide support and noise protection, it also can just as easily interfere with gun sights and scopes that may be installed on a firearm. Foam of that thickness also is less elastic, less able to stretch to accommodate firearms with bigger forends. Elastic connecting bands or overlapping joints, therefore, are employed in sleeves fabricated from thick foam material so that they can accommodate forends of greater or lesser circumference.
On the other hand, if a tubular sleeve is constructed entirely of a relatively thick foam, without any elastic bands or overlapping ends, any accommodation of different sizes will largely result from radial compression of the foam, not elastic expansion about the circumference. Such compression may occur on larger forends to an extent that stability and noise suppression is compromised. Excess compression also may put pressure on a floating barrel, causing it to contact the stock, or otherwise interfere with the natural harmonics of the barrel, which in turn can diminish the accuracy of a shot.
Thick foam sleeves also are not well suited for sliding over a barrel, as such resilient foams typically do not slide easily over metal and wooden surfaces when they are under compression. Finally, given that the resilient body also must have sufficient structural integrity to form the body of a sleeve, the choice of cushioning materials used in the sleeve are limited.
Accordingly, there remains a need for new and improved shooting supports for rifles and other long barreled firearms. Such disadvantages and others inherent in the prior art are addressed by various aspects and embodiments of the subject invention.